Being Jack Darby is Suffering
by NeutralGuise
Summary: Captured, tortured, assaulted, harassed, subjected to all sorts of experiments... We sure do love to put Jack through the wringer. A collection of Jack-centric one-shots and snippets.
1. Swarm

**Warnings:** Character Death (both pseudo and for real)

 **Notes:** In which I kill Jack again, and when you're a sapient swarm of metal and hunger, all your problems start looking like tasty snacks. Dialogue from the show is marked with an *

* * *

 **Swarm**

Arcee did not have time to grieve. She'd gone into the tunnel after the Insecticon and found the body of her partner. He was lying against Vector Sigma with his head at an odd angle. The Insecticon was nowhere to be seen. Feeling numb, she picked up Jack's body and took the Key before calling for a space bridge.

The blue portal opened almost immediately, but before she could step through, there was a horribly familiar whirring noise behind her. Scraplets. They were too close. She wouldn't be able to outrun them. She tried anyway, but the swarm overtook her. She braced herself for the pain, but none of the scraplets bothered with her. They all flew into the space bridge, towards her friends. Arcee ran after them.

When she arrived, she was shocked by what she saw. All the scraplets had ignored her fallen friends and focused on one target—Megatron. Shaking off her disbelief, she approached Orion Pax with the Key. He seemed to recognize the Key to Vector Sigma if not her.

"Are you certain—what is that?"

Reminded of the corpse she was carrying, Arcee scowled, "Just take it."

At some point during the upload, Megatron vanished into a ground bridge, leaving the Autobots alone with the scraplets. Curiously, none of them attacked. Once their victim disappeared, they all settled onto the ground and turned to watch the light show. All of the Autobots stared.

"What are they doing?" Bulkhead finally asked.

"I don't know. No one's managed to study scraplet behavior, but it's safe to say that this is not typical," Ratchet responded.

" _Can we leave before these things change their minds and eat us?_ "

Optimus nodded and had a ground bridge opened, but once again, the horde rushed through. Alarmed, the Autobots ran after them. When they arrived, they saw the swarm huddling in a corner on the ceiling while June and Agent Fowler being confused and alarmed by the invasion, Miko scrambling for a weapon, and Raf looking between the scraplets and the couch.

"They... They stole my laptop," he explained to the Autobots.

"They did what?" Ratchet glanced up, trying to spot the pilfered computer in the mass of scraplets.

Suddenly four of the little creatures broke off from the swarm and returned the laptop to Raf. He accepted it and looked at the screen before turning back to the Autobots, "Guys... where's Jack?"

Arcee seemed to wilt, "Here."

Jack's mother cried out and rushed to his side, checking desperately for signs of life before sobbing into a hand. The scraplets looked alarmed.

"Um, wait," Raf called. "I don't think—he's not—just read this!"

 **it's me jack. After the insecticon killed me I woke like this. I know this is hard to believe so ask me anything and i'll type the answers**

Ratchet leaned down to examine the upheld screen before glancing between the corpse and the scraplets. "That's impossible."

One scraplet scuttled near Raf's feet and gestured for him to set the laptop down. He did so and it poked the keys to spell, **clearly it is possible.**

Raf picked up the computer and brought it to Mrs. Darby. She wiped her eyes to see the screen better, read the messages and looked blankly between her son's body and the scraplet that had followed Raf over.

"What... Who was Jack's best friend when he was six?"

 **edward smith he moved to australia when I was 8 please don't let her hit me**

This last bit was directed at Miko, who had returned with the fire extinguisher, but stopped when she saw Jack's body.

"Jack? What happened?"

"Here," Raf showed her the laptop.

"Haha, you're joking, right? Jack's not..." She turned to the scraplet. "How many cats do I have? What band were we going to see when we got trapped in a cave-in?"

 **2 and slash monkey**

Fowler approached, "What was your excuse when I first found you all with the Autobots?"

 **interning for extra credits in mechanics**

June, looking a bit more hopeful when no one disputed their answers, leaned forward, "When you were in fifth grade, you got detention for the first time. What did you do?"

* * *

"So, how are you controlling all these scraplets anyway, pheromones? Are you their queen now?" Miko grinned.

They had finished verifying that it was indeed Jack, and moved on to other concerns. Like the fact that whether or not his mind was still around, there was a corpse to be dealt with. Jack's mom and Fowler were discussing their options quietly with Optimus weighing in now and then. This left Miko, Raf, and the other Autobots with nothing to do but speak with the base's newest bout of madness.

 **No, it's hard to explain, but it's like I'm all of them at once? Right now, I'm typing to you, but I'm also on the ceiling and walls. I was never this good at multitasking as a human.**

At some point during Jack's interrogation, he'd brought down a second scraplet to help him type better. At the reminder of the other scraplets, everyone looked towards the corner of the ceiling where they were still gathered.

Bulkhead grimaced, "Why did it have to be scraplets? Couldn't you have found a nice nosoron to possess? Dwellers, maybe?"

 **They were there. And I don't remember getting a choice. One minute, the Insecticon's coming at me, the next I'm a bunch of scraplets. I kind of**

The scraplet on the right started mashing the backspace key.

Miko leaned over, "What? What did you do?"

The two creatures shifted uneasily, glancing at their audience before explaining. **I acted on instinct for a while there. Scraplet instincts**

"I couldn't find the Insecticon who attacked you anywhere," Arcee said for the benefit of those who hadn't been there.

 **Yes, I ate him. I had already set some of the scraplets on him and when I took them over they were still eating him. I just kept going. I'm glad that you took so long to get there. If you'd come along while I was still in a frenzy**

There was a rattling sound as all the scraplets shuddered simultaneously.

Arcee was not comforted by this, "If I had come earlier, I might have saved you."

 **Yes, well. At least I'm still here, right? And now I can really help in the war. I got Megatron himself to run away earlier.**

"We'll see," Ratchet said.

* * *

The next day Jack did not get to go out with the Autobots. They came back with the spark extractor, though, so things worked out fine. Jack spent his time wandering around the base and experimenting with his new form. Careful testing proved that he could move individual scraplets across the base from him and still have perfect control, effectively being in two (or more) places at once. Using a laptop Fowler had dropped off, he convinced his mother, who had come by in the morning to see him, to carry one scraplet home with her. Now he could both keep her company and be an early alarm system in case MECH went after her again.

Speaking of that organization, Bumblebee was attacked while investigating an odd signal. He went out again anyway, but failed to secure the relic this time. The other Autobots decided that Jack should come with them for the next artifact hunt. When the time came, Jack sent most of the swarm through the gate with Optimus, Bulkhead, and Arcee, leaving about a third in the base.

When they arrived to find Knockout and Breakdown with the Forge of Solus Prime, Jack targeted Knockout first. He flowed around and over the projected field and went for the medic's hands, forcing him to drop the relic. He kept assaulting Knockout with the majority of his swarm while some scraplets started dragging the generator over to the other Autobots. While he had been focused on the Decepticon's medic, the other Autobots had been teaming up on Breakdown. They managed to get the Forge away from him. Arcee ran over and picked up the force field generator, addressing the group of scraplets with it as she did so.

"Jack, we need to go now."

The scraplets nodded, and the ones harrying Knockout began to break away. They followed the Autobots back into the ground bridge only to find the base empty of everyone but Ratchet.

* * *

While the majority of Jack was out in the field, the rest of him was not idle. When Fowler called, he had quickly typed out a word and sent a few scraplets to carry the laptop over to the screen.

 **Message?**

He took down the possible coordinates then kept typing while he followed Bumblebee over to the ground bridge.

 **I'm coming with you**

" _Jack, we'll be going up against MECH, humans; you won't be able to scare them off like you did with Megatron_."

 **I can still hurt them, act as a distraction. You need backup**

Not wanting to waste any more time, Bumblebee agreed," _Alright, let's go._ "

Jack left the laptop in plain sight and followed Bumblebee through the ground bridge.

When they arrived at the MECH base, Bumblebee instructed Jack to go to the windows and burst in when he broke through the doors. As soon as Jack was in position, the scout smashed his way in. Jack streamed in just in time to see Starscream getting bowled over by a barrel. He set a few scraplets on the seeker to keep him from getting involved and focused most of his swarm on the MECH soldiers. It was about time that he paid them back for going after his mother.

Bumblebee retrieved his T-cog from MECH's creation and turned to leave, pausing at the door when Jack didn't follow. He turned and felt sickened by what he saw. Most of the soldiers were incapacitated, down on the ground clutching their mangled hands or gashes in their legs. Starscream pushed past Bumblebee to run out, transform, and fly off, a quartet of scraplets snapping at his heels. Most of the scraplets seemed to be focusing on a single target, though the scout couldn't see who or what it was. He addressed the scraplets that had followed Jack out.

" _Jack, we need to leave now._ "

Immediately, the swarm came out and followed Bumblebee to the ground bridge. As they entered the portal, they encountered the rest of the Autobots going the other way. The scraplets with Optimus quickly reunited with the rest of the swarm and hid behind Bumblebee. The scout held his T-cog in front of him like a talisman.

" _I can explain?_ "

* * *

When they made it back to base, Bumblebee was put into stasis, but Ratchet did not operate on him immediately. Optimus grabbed the forge of Solus Prime and pulled the medic aside, and they returned later with a functional voice box for Bumblebee. It wouldn't sound the same as his old one, but Bumblebee was sure to appreciate the surprise when he woke up.

Meanwhile, Jack took the part of the swarm that had gone with Bumblebee into the base to find a sink. After searching for a while he found what may have been a kitchen area. Luckily, there was still a sponge and some dish soap. He spent hours washing the blood off those scraplets, having them take turns under the water and line up to be scrubbed by the scraplet with the sponge. He ended up splashing water everywhere, but that would have to be dealt with later.

Jack returned before Ratchet was finished with Bumblebee, so he got to watch the scout wake up. All the other Autobots were already there to see how Bee reacted to being whole again. Raf had arrived and was waiting anxiously on the couch.

Ratchet stepped back from the table, "Alright, I'm bringing him back now."

Bumblebee sat up, "Whoa, why's everyone here? Did something happen?"

Every person (with the exception of the Jack-scraplets) in the room from Optimus to Raf were smiling at him.

"Uh, no, seriously, is something wrong?"

Ratchet shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong. How do you feel? Any different?"

Bumblebee transformed his arm into a blaster and back again, "No problems, everythi—my voice! Ratchet, I have my voice back!"

He lunged forward and seized the medic in a hug, which Ratchet awkwardly reciprocated before pointing the scout at another victim, "Optimus was the one who made your new voice box."

"Thank you, Optimus!" Bumblebee bounded over and embraced his leader.

* * *

The next day Agent Fowler called to complain about Wheeljack and an unknown Decepticon tearing up the landscape outside Omaha. Jack was left at the base to avoid scaring Wheeljack, who froze and looked to Bulkhead uneasily when he came back to the base.

"You do know that you have a scraplet infestation, right?"

"That's just Jack. It's, uh, it's a long story."

Jack sent some scraplets over with his computer, **I promise to only devour our enemies.**

Wheeljack raised an optic ridge and motioned to the rest of the swarm, "And what about the rest of you?"

 **Hive mind**

The Wrecker took a moment to look up the phrase, "Good enough for me."

"If you're done talking, get over here, so I can see to that shoulder," Ratchet called.

A short time later, after Wheeljack's repairs were complete and Agent Fowler arrived and one wrecker stormed out with the other close behind him, Fowler turned his attention to Jack and Bumblebee. He approached them and spoke in a low voice.

"Listen, you two, I don't know what happened at the MECH base, and I don't want to know. I was one of the people investigating, and there was blood and fingers and bits of who-knows-what everywhere. No confirmed fatalities, though, which is the only reason my bosses are letting this slide for now, but whatever happened there does not happen again, got it?"

The two nodded, and the agent left them.

"What was that about?" Arcee sidled up to them.

Bumblebee and Jack exchanged a look. They had managed to gloss over exactly what Jack had been doing while Bumblebee reclaimed his T-cog, but if the government already knew...

Jack started typing, **Things got a bit bloody yesterday.**

"A bit?" Bumblebee remembered the downed soldiers clearly.

Arcee looked concerned now, "Did you kill anyone?"

Their relationship with the government wasn't entirely ideal, but it could be much worse. If they thought that an Autobot or their ally had killed someone, even a criminal who had attacked them first...

The scraplets shook their heads, **No, some of the soldiers might be crippled now, but that's what they get for being terrorists. Except for Silas, if we're lucky, he's dead, but I wouldn't count on it.**

"I don't think that MECH has actually committed any acts of terror yet..." Bumblebee cut in.

Every scraplet in the room turned to stare at Bumblebee. **Bumblebee, they tried to destroy the DNGS. That would have irradiated five states, and probably caused damage even beyond that. They maimed Breakdown. They maimed you. They tried to give me up to Arachnid and they went after my mother. I'm not going to be sorry if any of them don't make it.**

* * *

Due to Jack's excessive violence, he was confined to the base the next time the Autobots went out to deal with a signal from Starscream. When they returned the outpost, Jack tried to talk them into letting him go after Arachnid with them, but was denied. Resigned to staying behind with Ratchet again, Jack saw them off.

 **Blast her for me, partner?**

Arcee smiled at him, "Sure."

* * *

Later in the week, Agent Fowler contacted the Autobots while Optimus Prime was out. Jack was able to convince the other Autobots to let him come with them. When they arrived, the attacking semi truck turned to flee, causing Arcee to give chase with a few scraplets clinging to her handlebars. The rest of the swarm couldn't fly fast enough to keep up. The truck eventually came back to run her down, but the part of Jack with her managed to get clear and tore into the enemy's sides before it ran again.

Once they were back at the base Jack waited until Arcee woke up to report what he noticed.

 **That definitely wasn't Optimus. It's probably not a Decepticon either. At least, not like the one who impersonated Wheeljack.**

"What makes you so sure?" Arcee asked.

 **Whatever it was isn't alive. When I attacked it, it felt more like when I was eating MECH's guns than when I went after Starscream or Knockout.**

Ratchet nodded at this explanation, "No spark energy, it could still be a Decepticon trick, though. Soundwave would be able to control such a thing from range."

"There's another group who would like to drive a wedge between us and the government, one who has had a chance to study Cybertronian anatomy extensively and more recently had their greasy little hands on a T-cog to study," Bumblebee added darkly.

"MECH? Maybe..."

Optimus chose that time to return, and Agent Fowler and Arcee explained what had happened earlier. The explanation was interrupted by a call to Fowler. The impostor had attacked a base. Jack was ordered to stay behind this time. The Autobots returned almost as soon as they had left. The bad news was that the government was now against them; the good news were that they were sure that they were up against MECH.

"It drove off again," Arcee explained. "If the Decepticons were controlling that thing, they would use a ground bridge to move it around. MECH doesn't have access to that technology, though."

They narrowed the location of the MECH base down and the bots went out to search. Being able to cover a large area all by himself, Jack was allowed to come along this time. He was, however, ordered to avoid engaging any of MECH's soldiers.

When Bumblebee found the base, the Autobots and Jack converged on his location. By the time the scraplets finally arrived, Optimus was already in conflict with his doppelganger. The two scraplets that had been left in the base to communicate with Ratchet via laptop noted that Fowler was bridging in. Jack had the parts of him already present drop to the ground and scuttle forward, attempting to be discrete. Once he had the two combatants surrounded, he swarmed the false Prime, targeting its joints, weapons, neck, and face. As soon as his work was done, he backed off to allow Optimus a clear shot at the copy. Blinded, crippled, and soon directionless thanks to Fowler, the knock off was quickly dispatched by Optimus Prime, sending it through the roof of the bunker.

Panicking, Jack flew after the drone, and was relieved to find the agent unharmed by the fallen debris. Then government helicopters arrived and Fowler advised everyone to head back while he dealt with the humans.

* * *

Jack spent the next few days in a bad mood. The apparent survival of Silas had him snappish and irritable. He passed most of the time on his laptop, searching for stories of hospital thefts or the interception of transports carrying medical supplies. Not that he actually thought that MECH would be that careless or obvious, but he wanted to feel like he was doing something.

Miko finally brought him out of it by challenging him to see if he could still play games in his current form. After a bit of experimentation, it turned out that he could. He needed four scraplets to work the controller and at least one more watching the screen, but it was possible. He and Miko were playing a fighting game Raf had brought over when Optimus, Bumblebee, and Arcee exited the ground bridge with a large object. Jack sent a member of his swarm over to investigate and was surprised to see Arachnid. He paused the game and started typing.

Miko leaned back to address the Autobots, "Jack wants to know why you didn't let him come after Arachnid with you."

"We didn't know it was her until we got there," Arcee replied.

"Besides, you seemed kind of distracted," Bumblebee nodded to the game system.

Jack typed furiously. Miko glanced down at the screen, but before she could pass on Jack's objections, Bulkhead arrived.

"Guys, you are not gonna believe the day I had!" He noticed Arachnid, "Oh, you too, huh?*"

* * *

Jack waited by the ground bridge, tense with anticipation. This was it. The _Nemesis_ was crippled, and the Decepticons were vulnerable. They would never get a better chance at ending the war than this. Optimus disappeared and returned with the spark extractor. Jack quirked his heads then typed a question. He had a scraplet nudge Miko to get her attention.

"Why don't you bring the other stuff too? I can't think of a situation where having the immobilizer or force field generator would _not_ come in handy."

Optimus spared her a glance, "The spark extractor alone should suffice, though I suppose we would be remiss to not have backups. Bumblebee."

The scout raced down the hall while Agent Fowler insinuated himself into the raid. He returned with the two aforementioned relics and the polarity gauntlet. He tossed the gauntlet to Arcee and the generator to Bulkhead, keeping the immobilizer for himself.

Ratchet detected Dark Energon in use at the _Nemesis_ crash site, and Optimus called for everyone to move out. Leaving two of his swarm behind, Jack followed the others through the blue portal.

When Jack arrived, he immediately spread himself out to avoid the beams emitted by the ship. The ship seemed to have difficulty locking on to targets as small as an individual scraplet. The Autobots, however, were much larger targets. Once he noticed that everyone had been frozen, Jack fell back and surrounded them, ready to attack any comers. Jack waited for the Decepticons to try to take advantage of his friends' vulnerable states, but no attack came. The ship changed course and no flyers emerged to come after the Autobots. Fowler called for Ratchet to retrieve the team, and Jack continued to stand guard until the final member had been dragged through the ground bridge.

After a brief discussion, Ratchet called the _Nemesis_. The response he got was enlightening. It was decided that now would be an excellent time to infiltrate the warship and retrieve a copy of the Iacon Database. There was a brief argument over who should stay and who should go.

"Look, Raf's our best tech guy and there's no way I'm staying behind when both Jack and Raf are going."

"Look, the last time one of you kids went on a mission for the 'bots things..." he shot a glance at the horde of scraplets that was now Jack. "...didn't really end well. I can't take you along in good conscience."

Jack poked Raf's leg until he reached down and picked up Jack's laptop, "What if we waited until the ship was distracted?"

"With tearing up the US?"

"With Jack. We send in Jack first. Scraplets are from Cybertron, so the ship will probably be able to detect them. He'll go all over the ship and distract it while we go in, get the data, and get out."

"That... would make it safer for us, but Jack," Fowler considered the swarm seriously, "Are you okay taking that kind of risk?"

Raf set the laptop back down where Jack could reach it.

 **I'll leave a couple scraplets here like usual, and there's still one at my house. Worst case scenario, the ship destroys most of the swarm, and I'm down to three bodies. I'm fine with that if I can clear a path for you all. There isn't time for you to get anyone else, and you know it.**

Fowler scowled, but nodded, "Fine, if we're gonna do this, let's do it now."

Ratchet didn't look any happier but handed a transfer drive to Fowler. He addressed Jack first, "I'll try to send you to a different part of the ship than them. You'll have to get out on your own. Just type when you need a pickup or if anything goes wrong. You three, stay in contact too. Anything goes wrong, and I'm bridging you back."

Jack went through the portal and emerged in the navigation room on the _Nemesis_. Ignoring the ship's shrieks and alarms, he sped down the hall, searching for his targets. Even if Optimus and the other Autobots were out of commission, he could still complete their mission. He split up his swarm at every fork, ignoring the Vehicons for now. (Megatron first, then Soundwave, Dreadwing, Knockout, then the Insecticons and Vehicons.) He found Knockout, but skipped that hall because he didn't want to bring the ship's attention to his friends. He started losing scraplets, he wasn't sure if they were being frozen or destroyed, but the sensation was jarring. He kept searching.

He found Dreadwing next and hesitated in front of the seeker. The last time he'd had the chance to kill a helpless Decepticon, he'd walked away, and that had been Megatron. This was the one Decepticon Optimus was hoping he'd be able to turn. Could he really...? He remembered Skyquake, remembered how Dreadwing's twin had turned down every peaceful overture in favor of following his last orders from Megatron. He also recalled what he knew of Dreadwing, how Wheeljack and Bulkhead had stayed up together telling stories about Seaspray until dawn, how the green mech had kept rubbing his chest where a bomb had been attached. Just because Dreadwing wasn't completely depraved didn't mean he wasn't a Decepticon through and through, didn't mean he wouldn't kill Jack's friends given half a chance. Jack closed the optics of the present scraplets in a brief silent apology and went for the seeker's throat. The least he could do was make it quick.

He found Soundwave next and dispatched him in a similar manner. Jack did his best to ignore memories of the Decepticon walking away from chances to kill him and his friends, both at the military base when he'd first met the 'bots and at the museum when they'd gone after the energon harvester. He moved on to search for Megatron. He found the warlord at the ship's power core, hand on a lever. Jack surged forward. Megatron's head fell.

Fowler, Miko, and Raf chose that moment to enter the room. "Whoa—Jack did you just—?"

"Jack! We need to pull that lever manually!" Raf interjected.

At the base, Jack whirred to get Ratchet's attention. **Tell them to hide I'll bring the rest of my swarm in**

Jack converged on the room, he couldn't move Megatron's body, even with the entirety of his mass, which was depleted by about an eighth thanks to the _Nemesis_. He gnawed Megatron's hand apart instead, leaving the lever free. As soon as that was done, he vacated the room and spread out over the _Nemesis_ again, trusting the three humans to accomplish their goal. He doubled back to where Knockout was and finished off the last of the Decepticon command staff. Now he was free to destroy every Decepticon he encountered.

* * *

When the stasis started wearing off, the surviving Decepticons were quick to give up. Jack herded them to a large clear room near the center of the _Nemesis_. He wrote Ratchet to explain the situation. The medic had no useful advice other than to wait for Optimus to wake up. When the Autobot leader did unfreeze, he was immediately sent off to the warship to accept their surrender.

Now that the Autobots had taken over the _Nemesis_ , they could hunt down the Iacon relics at their leisure. Starscream, too, would be dealt with in time. There were still issues to sort out, like what to do about Cybertron and where and how Jack would live and those Cybertronians scattered across the universe, unaware of the turn the war had taken, but the Autobots could deal with those issues as they arose. After all, they had the time now.

* * *

 **Notes:** Sorry to all Decepticon fans, I just couldn't find a way to save them. As soon as I got the idea, I looked over the episode list to figure out changes and ripples and I saw "Flying Mind" and I was just like... 'That's it, that's where Jack eats everyone on the Nemesis.' On a different note, the scene with Bee getting his pipes back is in here like eighty percent because I completely forgot about that in Restless. Anyways, thank you for reading.


	2. Tinker

**Notes:** In which June has a secret and being Jack doesn't mean _constant_ suffering.

* * *

 **Tinker**

One of June's earliest memories involved her standing by her grandfather's side while he showed off his collection.

"...And this one is a freeze ray!" The elderly man brandished his device. It looked less like the futuristic weapon that it was and more like something that would not be out of place at the set of _Frankenstein_.

June's eyes widened, "Like Mr. Freeze?"

Her grandpa grinned and aimed his invention at one corner of the workshop where a few targets were set up. There was a flash of light and one of the marks was encased in ice. "If Mr. Freeze had one of these, he'd never lose to the man dressed as a bat!"

June couldn't really see any difference between what he had done and what Mr. Freeze could do, but she didn't argue. Her grandfather spent a few more minutes with her, letting her use some of his works herself and explaining some of how he'd made them, even though the explanations flew over June's head.

"Well, it's about time for you to be heading home, little missy. Now remember..."

"Don't tell anyone about what you make, or what Dad makes, or what Uncle Scott makes, not even mom."

"Good girl."

* * *

Ever since anyone could remember, the people in June's family had an odd talent. They could create technology decades if not centuries ahead of its time. They could not explain to others the processes and theories behind their work because science hadn't invented the terms for what they could do yet. The devices they made should not work, according to modern science, and they would soon stop working without proper maintenance from their creator. Thus, the family could not profit by patenting or selling their works. It didn't matter whether they studied science or English or art; the knowledge of how to create would come to them. Those who studied math and science generally had an easier time of making sense of what they would need and what they could build, though. June was raised on cautionary tales of ancestors who didn't realize the dangers of what they could create until it was too late.

Everyone had a theme to what they could make, too. Grandfather specialized in temperature manipulation. He was also one of the few in her family who used his talent in his job. He ran an ice rink. June's father was able to create vehicles. He could often be seen working in his garage, where there would be the strewn remains of two or more vehicles at any given time. He was also more public about what he could create, though he would dismantle his creations before anyone realized that they worked, or their more exotic abilities. Anyone who knew her uncle would be surprised to learn that he specialized in bombs. He hated his talent, and would put off working with it for long periods of time. Every so often, though, the urge to use the knowledge inside his head would become overpowering, and he would disappear into the desert with bags of supplies and return looking refreshed.

June wondered what she would be able to create. It would be a few more years before she would start developing her talent; typically her family developed them any time from their teens to early twenties. She hoped for something useful, or failing that, easy to disguise. Maybe she could excel with household appliances or nanotech. For a moment she allowed herself to dream of a specialization in power armor, like Iron Man. Too bad real life didn't have any supervillains for her to defeat.

* * *

June was worried about Jack. He'd been going up to the attic more and more lately. The attic was her workshop. She wasn't worried about him harming himself, since she had drilled safety procedures into his head years ago. Jack almost never went up unless she practically dragged him in, though, and now he was in there almost every night? And if that wasn't enough, his grades were slipping and he was missing shifts at work. He'd end up fired at this rate. She walked into the garage to wait for Jack to return from wherever he was, and gazed thoughtfully at the spot where his motorcycle usually rested. Could he have taken up racing? That might explain a lot.

* * *

June slumped into a kitchen chair. She was used to dealing with oddities due to her upbringing, but... Alien robots? Shadowy organizations? Well, it least it all belonged in the same genre. MECH... she wasn't clear on what exactly their goals were, but with a name like that she could guess at at least some of them.

"Jack."

Her son jumped in place where he had been hovering on the other side of the table, "Yes, mom?"

"This... thing you've been doing, with your 'sci-fi' club, it's why you've been going up to my workshop so often, right?"

"You knew?" Jack looked vaguely guilty now.

She smirked at him, "I always know when someone's been up there." She sighed, "Well, I'm not getting any sleep tonight. Come on."

He blinked, "What are we doing?"

"We're going up to my workshop," She turned and eyed him seriously. "I'm going to make you some things."

As Jack hurried behind her, June started planning. What could she make, and quickly? She might not be able to make anything that could stop something like that bitch Arachnid, but any human that went after her son would regret it.

* * *

Jack watched as Raf was returned to Bumblebee. Megatron was going to exchange him last. Perfect. He ignored the tyrant's words and focused on Arcee. He tried to smile and wave, but the expression felt off and his hand shook. ' _This isn't the end. I'll be okay. I'll see them again,_ ' he told himself. Then, before he had time to chicken out, he activated one of the last resorts his mother had given him.

BOOM!

Starscream fell back, dazed. He tried to push himself up, but his hands—his hands, where were his hands?

While Starscream was gaping at the mangled, sparking stumps at the ends of his arms, the others broke out of their stupor and started moving. Bulkhead and Bumblebee clutched their humans and dashed backwards, silently comming Ratchet as they did so. Optimus lunged for the Star Sabre, and Megatron moved to intercept him. Arcee tossed her key to Smokescreen, who subspaced it along with the one that he'd been holding, and rushed for Starscream. Soundwave intercepted her while Knockout strolled over to the Air Commander and pulled him up.

"Well, that was unexpected," the medic idly commented, then tsked at the damage. "Completely unsalvageable, I'll have to replace both of your hands and forearms. Get back to the ship. If you want—"

Starscream shook him off with a snarl, "I'm not going anywhere, not when we're so close to Cybertron being—"

"Annnnd there they go," Knockout watched as Arcee, the last Autobot in the field, disappeared through a space bridge. "We're not getting the rest of the keys today, so _now_ can we go back?"

"No," Megatron growled, "they are not getting away."

* * *

Ratchet looked between where Rafael and Miko were sitting stunned in their guardians' shadows, Arcee was glaring down at her fists, and Optimus was accepting two of the Omega Keys from Smokescreen, "What happened? Why are the children here?" He paused as another question occurred to him, "Why isn't Jack with them?"

Everyone flinched at that last question, and Miko drew in a sharp breath.

It was Arcee who answered him, "We made it to the lock, but Megatron was close behind. At some point, some of his forces went to Jasper and grabbed the kids."

"It was just Soundwave, Knockout, and Starscream. They got us while we were walking home," Miko interjected.

Ratchet flinched at the reminder of his recent conversation with Jack, while Arcee continued. "We traded two keys to get Miko and Raf back. Megatron was going to exchange Jack for the last two, but before that could happen Jack did something, I don't know what, but he blew himself up."

"He what? How?"

Optimus, who had moved to stand by the console, spoke before Arcee could reply, "The Decepticons are here, prepare to bridge out."

* * *

The first thing Jack did when he woke up was run downstairs and find his mother. June was surprised to find him already in the house.

"Jack, when did you get home? I didn't hear you come in."

"I don't know. I don't think—I didn't—I—I came from the workshop. I don't remember anything after last night."

June set the dish she's been drying down carefully, and hugged her son. "Okay, go get your shoes on, and I'll drive us to the base to find out what happened."

Jack nodded and left the room. June drew in a shaky breath. They both knew what him waking up in the workshop meant. Something had almost killed him. Was it a Decepticon? MECH? Were his two human friends alright? She grabbed her keys and moved to the garage. She wanted answers now.

* * *

It had taken over two weeks, but the _Nemesis_ had moved on from where it loomed in the sky over Jasper, Optimus was back and bigger than ever, and everyone could finally reunite at Hanger E. Arcee was helping Ratchet and Optimus install the ground bridge they'd salvaged from the Harbinger while Bumblebee and Smokescreen were out patrolling, the Wreckers were going through their old base, and the two kids were watching from the sofa. She was so preoccupied with her task that she didn't notice Agent Fowler come in with two guests until Miko and Raf started shouting.

"Jack! Where—why—"

"Dude, we saw you die!"

"How are you here?"

"Jack!" Arcee was across the room before anyone could blink, taking care not to hit the two children as she hurtled past them. She dropped to one knee and loosely placed her hands on either side of Jack, "Oh, Primus! I thought you were dead. Are you okay?"

Jack smiled and set a hand on one of her fingers, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Jack," Optimus stepped forward, "While I'm pleased to see you well, I must ask what happened that day on Cybertron."

Jack nodded and stepped away from Arcee. Raf and Miko moved in for hugs. After a brief moment, he spoke again, "That's going to be a long story, and I only want to tell it once. Where is everyone else? Are they okay?"

"Yes, they should be back shortly."

"Is it okay to wait for them?"

"Yes."

Jack was pulled away by Miko and Raf while the two filled him in on what had happened while he was gone. Arcee followed them, but not before she overheard an exchange between Mrs. Darby and Agent Fowler.

"What's all this about them thinking Jack was dead?"

"I don't know the full story myself yet, but, Agent..."

"Yes?"

"The things you're going to learn in the next few hours, consider whether or not the government needs to know about it too. It's not anything illegal!" she added quickly, "It's just some things about my family and Jack, and you'd mentioned that you thought MECH might have—"

"June! I've worked with sensitive information for decades. As long as it's not a danger to the country or its people, I can be discreet."

* * *

"Alright, first I need to know your version of what happened the last time we saw each other—" he raised a hand to forestall any objections— "I know, it sounds like an excuse, but I literally have no memories of that day. It's a side-effect of how I survived whatever happened to me. Just tell me what you know, and I'll fill in the blanks. Then—" he glanced at his mother and received a nod— "we'll answer all your questions."

Miko and Raf started talking. They walked him their day, going to school, waiting in the sun for their guardians, calling to find that they were busy.

"...Then we split up to walk home, Soundwave grabbed me, Knockout got Miko, and Starscream showed up with you. They stuck us in these containers and took us to Cybertron. Miko and I got traded for two of the Omega Keys. While Megatron was offering to trade you for the other two, you waved and then just exploded."

"Starscream was still holding you and both his hands blew off!" Miko added.

Jack blinked at this, "Really?" He turned to address his mother, "A bit strong, don't you think?"

June scowled, "Not strong enough, if he's still alive, but explosives were never my forte."

"You gave your son explosives? To blow himself up with?" Agent Fowler was starting to question everything he knew about the nurse.

"I got better!" Jack defended.

"We've noticed, partner, though you still haven't answered the question of how?"

"Right," Jack blew out a sigh and suddenly became very interested in his hands, "Okay, so, the thing is..." It was difficult to talk openly about something he'd spent literally his whole life trying to hide, "I'm not exactly... human."

He didn't look up and kept talking over his friends' surprised reactions. "I'm an AI, an android. After the MECH fiasco, Mom made me a few things, including the self-destruct system, so if they ever found out about me somehow, they couldn't vivisect me. I don't remember being on Cybertron that time, but I guess I didn't want you to lose all the keys. I waited until Raf and Miko were safe and destroyed that body. The loss caused my backup to activate."

"Backup?" Miko seized on that word, "Does that mean that you're not the same Jack?"

"Sort of? I've been backing myself up almost every night since I met the Autobots. So we were the same person at the point that I was created. There's less than a twenty-four hour difference between us. Granted, they were an eventful few hours, but still."

"How have you gotten away with this?" Fowler asked June, "He has a birth certificate. He's been in the schooling system since first grade. I don't care how good you are, there had to have been discrepancies, especially at first."

"I 'gave birth' at home. My family knows about what I did. My father and uncle would watch Jack for me while they were still alive, they told me what to fix to avoid the uncanny valley. By the time I had to enroll Jack in school, all the little kinks had been ironed out."

"I've seen human attempts at androids, and what you've done with Jack is decades, if not centuries, ahead of the current technology," Ratchet commented.

Sighing at his unspoken question, June responded, "To answer that, I'd need to explain about my family..."

She gave a brief recap of her family history, "I couldn't begin to explain to anyone why I chose to do the things I did when creating or maintaining Jack. I studied the human body, so I could imitate it as closely as possible. I don't regret that, but I don't know any of the scientific terms or if the words to describe what I've done even exist yet."

"Maintain?" Ratchet asked.

"Like Mom said, the family's creations tend to run down pretty quickly without its inventor taking care of it. I can do some stuff myself, but if something happened to her, I doubt I'd last longer than a week."

Arcee looked alarmed, "Maybe not, maybe Ratchet could help."

Ratchet seemed uncomfortable with the looks Arcee and now June were giving him, "I make no promises, but if you walk me through what you've done, I'll see what I can do."

Jack watched his mother walk off with Ratchet while Miko, Raf and Arcee pressed in with more questions. Fowler seemed shocked, but didn't appear to be reacting too badly from what Jack could tell. The rest of the Autobots were either drifting off to work on their own projects (Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus, and Optimus) or lingering to listen (everyone else). He was glad that he had people who knew what he was now; it felt like a weight had been lifted. He smiled and started answering.

* * *

 **Notes:** So, how was the reveal? Did anyone guess beforehand? Thank you for reading.


	3. Gamer

**Warning:** Character death

 **Notes:** In which Jack is The Gamer and MECH stares into the Abyss.

* * *

 **Gamer**

When Jack was fifteen, he started seeing things. Whenever he looked at a person, he'd see their name and level floating above their head. When his mom assigned him chores, he'd get a quest. Completing those quests earned him experience points; getting an arbitrary number of those caused him to level up. In short, his life had suddenly turned into a video game.

Jack had always loved video games. Living in a small town, there wasn't much for him to do besides playing them. He'd cursed his obsession when he'd started being plagued by hallucinations of stat windows and quest announcements, though.

Then he'd begun to experiment with the screens and discovered that they could actually affect the real world. The first time he leveled up, he put all five of the stat points he acquired into strength. Suddenly, he was able to lift and move objects that he had barely been able to shift just minutes ago. He also had an inventory screen and he could put something like a book or pencil into one of the squares and retrieve it later. By performing certain actions, he would gain related skills. He got **Observe** during a science class, **Creation** from art, **Cooking** , **Cleaning** , and, oddly enough, **Dish-Washing** from around the house. Experimenting with an old bat he had lying around earned him his first combat skills, **Blunt Weapon Mastery** and **Power Strike**. Skill books were also apparently a thing, he discovered when he found one of his mom's old sewing instruction books. The book vanished in motes of light and he suddenly had a **Sewing** skill.

He tried to hide what was happening from his mother, but eventually, she realized that something was off about his behavior and cornered him. She'd opened by asking him if he'd been experiencing anything odd recently, or suddenly acquired any abilities. Jack was too desperate for answers to deny anything.

June Darby proved to be surprisingly informative. She started by explaining the Gaia Theory, that the earth is alive, and for reasons unknown to anyone chose to grant certain people abilities. Those people were called Natural Ability Users and their powers generally had some significance to them. She, for instance, was a pyrokinetic and had survived a house fire when she was a child.

"Wait, so that means..." Jack cut himself off with a groan.

"What?"

"My ability, it's like I'm a video game character."

June covered her face with her hands and laughed, "That kind of power... Maybe I should have done more to encourage you to play outside as a child."

Jack blushed and crossed his arms, "Don't you still have more explaining to do?"

Apparently, Gaia did not like people blatantly using their abilities. If someone used their powers in front of normal people, they would at risk of being struck by lightning or something equally terrible. The best way to avoid exerting too much of an influence in the world was to enter a protected space known as an illusion barrier. There were several different types of illusion barriers. There were barriers full of monsters for training, barriers that promoted healing, even barriers where time moved faster inside so those who used it could get two or more hours worth of work done in one hour real-time. June showed Jack how to create and break out of illusion barriers. His power referred to them as Instant Dungeons and he got **ID Create** and **ID Escape** skills.

Finally, his mother warned him about the Abyss. The Abyss was the world of Ability Users. Most of the things those people did was illegal. If Jack caught the wrong person's attention, he could get pulled into all sorts of unsavory situations. His mother had moved to Jasper to avoid that happening to her. June took Jack over to the computer and showed him a site called Abyss Auction. In addition to things like information, spell books, and weapons, there was an entire subcategory for slaves, where people were bought and sold. That was one of the worst case scenarios that might await Jack if anyone found out about him.

* * *

Jack exited KO Burger, silently closing the window announcing that he had completed another shift at work and earned 500 exp and the second window telling him he'd leveled up. Honestly, he didn't need a part-time job, there were easier ways for him to earn both money and experience, but this was a nice legal source of income. As long as he didn't spend too much at once, no one questioned him having money to spend. He might quit soon anyway. He wouldn't be staying in Jasper forever, and when he moved, the chances of him getting caught up in the Abyss would go up. He needed to get as strong as possible before that happened. Thoughts of his future flew away when he noticed something odd out of the corner of his eye.

There in the parking lot was a blue motorcycle. It was a beautiful machine. Almost definitely a custom job, but the thing that caught his eye had been the words floating above it.

 **[Autobot Warrior] LV ? : Arcee**

"What the hell? **Observe.** " Against common sense, Jack moved closer to investigate.

 **Name: Arcee**

 **Occupation: Scout**

 **Title: Autobot Warrior**

 **Level: ?**

 **Age: 6148**

 **Race: Cybertronian**

 **HP: ?  
**

 **MP: ?  
**

 **Vitality: ? Dexterity: ?**

 **Strength:? Intelligence: ?**

 **Wisdom: ? Luck: ?**

 **Status: Normal**

 **Information: Created in Altihex, this femme joined the Autobots as a scout in the war against the Decepticons. When that war came to earth, she followed.**

 **Mood: Hostile, Stressed, Mournful**

There were a lot of question marks, probably because her level was much higher than his. Jack's focused on the race and background. Cybertronian? She followed a war to earth? Where was she from?Who or what were the Autobots and Decepticons? Why were they fighting here? Were they connected to the Abyss? He was jolted out of his thoughts by a classmate calling his name.

Struggling to keep casual and staying between his normal classmate and the high-level _alien_ behind him. Jack leaned back against said alien and was relieved to not be immediately eviscerated. It seemed that whoever Arcee was, she was more concerned with keeping a low profile than avoiding human contact. He needed Sierra and her friend to leave, so he started awkwardly flirting. It might negatively affect his reputation, such as it was, but there was no quicker way to drive off uninterested females. When the two girls left, Jack momentarily forgot himself and leaned back more fully. That was, of course, the exact moment Arcee chose to stop pretending to be a normal motorcycle and _move_ , taking Jack with her.

Instinct had him holding on and swinging fully into the seat before logic could remind him that no, he wanted to be away from the person he was currently clinging to. It was too late now. The motorcycle was going too fast for him to safely get off; he might as well enjoy the ride.

* * *

After Miko left, Jack walked up to his room, considering. She wasn't wrong. He wasn't normal, hadn't been normal for over a year. The moment he'd chosen to train his powers instead of ignoring them, he'd chosen to join the Abyss, and that place was everything he said he'd left the Autobot base to avoid.

Speaking of the Abyss, he'd had a chance to observe everyone at the base and no one, from Ratchet to the agent to Rafael had any ties to the Abyss that his powers could detect. None of the Decepticons seemed to have any connections either. He was honestly having a hard time with that. It was ridiculous. He had no problem with gods and demons and spirits and monsters existing, because they were all part of the weirdness of the Abyss. Aliens existing was fine, but the idea that they weren't involved with that shadow world was odd.

He thought briefly of what might happen if the Autobots drew the attention of the Abyss, if his classmates were dragged along by association. He remembered seeing people being sold as "components" and oddities. His lips twisted into a frown. Maybe... maybe he could treat this as a trial run. If he couldn't make it through an alien war where the other side was only barely interested in him, if they were at all, then he might as well buy a power-suppressing accessory and live like a normal person.

He walked over to his computer, turned it on, and went to the Abyss Auction. He sighed. This was going to eat into his savings, but if he really was going to do this, then he had better be prepared.

* * *

Jack glared at "Wheeljack's" information screen, but no matter how much he wished it would. The words didn't change.

 **Name: Makeshift**

 **Occupation: Spy**

 **Title: Hunter of Hydrax**

 **Level: ?**

 **Age: 5893**

 **Race: Cybertronian**

 **HP: ?  
**

 **MP: ?  
**

 **Vitality: ? Dexterity: ?**

 **Strength:? Intelligence: ?**

 **Wisdom: ? Luck: ?**

 **Status: Normal**

 **Information: This shifter from Kaon joined the Decepticons almost as soon as the movement began. He works directly under Starscream as a spy and saboteur.**

 **Mood: Irritated, Tense**

Great, what was he supposed to do now? He couldn't expose the spy without raising awkward questions about how he knew that there was a fake when even Bulkhead, who was "like brothers" with Wheeljack hadn't noticed anything wrong. Letting Makeshift do whatever he wanted was out of the question, though. He'd seemed particularly interested in the state of the ground bridge, so his goal was probably to let the Decepticons through, or something. Thankfully, the bridge wasn't working properly after the scraplet infestation.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Miko returning with the impostor. He walked over to them, intent on drawing his friend away, when Bulkhead started demanding that Wheeljack tell about some battle the Wreckers participated in. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. Now he wouldn't have to worry about subtly exposing Makeshift.

In hindsight, he probably should have made sure that he and Miko were away from the Decepticon before relaxing his guard; both he and Miko were grabbed and held hostage. Jack struggled to stay calm. If he pulled all three of them into an illusion barrier, he might be able to overcome Makeshift with the element of surprise, but if he did that, he would be exposing Miko to the Abyss. There was no guarantee that he'd win. He'd bought spells that should be effective against Cybertronians and practiced with them every day, but Makeshift had been in a war for millennia and was so much stronger than Jack that he couldn't even see the spy's level. Once again, the decision was taken out of his hands with the arrival of the true Wheeljack, who attacked his doppelganger from behind, causing Jack and Miko to be dropped.

* * *

The next few weeks were eventful. In between a few boring, routine scouting missions, Jack almost died first to an illegal military group with guns, then again when that group's _idiot_ of a leader decided to destroy a nuclear device with a train wreck. He also got chased around a museum by Soundwave's tentacles when he realized that the Communication's Officer was outside the door and not Arcee. If only he'd been alone; he'd like to see Soundwave try to take the energon harvester from his inventory. Jack was challenged to a race by Vince, but he never bothered to show up. It was a good thing that he didn't; Vince and one other racer were run off the road by some out of town driver.

Then Jack accompanied Arcee on what was supposed to be another boring, routine scouting mission. Instead, he was chased around the woods by a giant mechanical spider. Fun times. The good news was that he managed to stall, almost blow up, and destroy the transport of Arachnid, without resorting to magic. (Well, he may have used his fire affinity just a bit to ensure that the branch caught, but that barely counted.) The bad news was that he'd just stranded a psychopathic serial killer on earth. Who knows what kind of damage she was causing even now, running around unchecked.

The next incident threw how unprepared he really was in his face. He'd been playing games almost all his life and his mother was a nurse. How could he have neglected to get any healing abilities? With Optimus's life on the line, he would have risked Gaia's retaliation to restore the Autobot leader to health, but there was absolutely nothing he could do to help. When Bumblebee returned with the formula for the antidote, Jack stayed just long enough to confirm that Optimus would recover then headed home. He had some skill books to rush order.

The next day he blew everything off to focus on leveling up his new healing skills. He emerged from his time dilation dungeon with the health restoration skill at level twenty-five and the status remover at level sixteen. Then he checked his phone and discovered that while he was stabbing, poisoning, and healing himself, Megatron had returned. He seethed at the news. If he had stuck around yesterday, could he have noticed? Would **Observe** have picked up Bumblebee's possession? He realized that it wouldn't matter even if he had known, he wouldn't have been able to convince anyone or deal with it on his own. Yet another situation he was completely blindsided by.

The hits just kept coming, as the next time he went to the base he ended up in an alternate dimension. Jack's first thought had been that he had stumbled (been lured into) into someone's illusion barrier. He dismissed that notion when he discovered that the only other being with them was the zombiecon Miko had wanted to see. While Miko and Raf were distracted, Jack tried to open an instant dungeon, but nothing happened. He couldn't, he realized with a chill, see their names or levels either, and his attempts to **Observe** his surroundings proved fruitless. Was he cut off from Gaia entirely? Fortunately, he and the others were able to establish contact with the Autobots and eventually return to their home plane.

* * *

Jack rode Arcee to meet up with MECH with murder on his mind. This was not supposed to happen. The Autobot's war shouldn't have followed him home. It should never have reached his mother. These people, who had already demonstrated zero respect for human life, knew who he was and were willing to go after people totally unrelated to the Cybertronian war; they had to go. (How had they even found him? Did they look for him after the train? He hadn't been alone then; Miko had come too. How long until they set their sights on a different target?)

He and his mother had argued earlier. He'd stretched himself too thin, trying to train and go to school and work and hang around the Autobots, and it showed. He was sleeping in school, missing shifts, and even with time dilation dungeons, he was getting less and less done each day. His solution had been to give up his job, but his mom hadn't liked that idea. She was worried about his future, wanted him to live apart from the Abyss like she did. Jack thought that exposure was inevitable and wanted to prepare, though. Luckily, he convinced her to move their fight inside before Arcee could hear them rehash that old topic.

He formed a rough plan. He'd already buffed himself with enhanced strength, durability, speed, and regeneration. Once he arrived, he would open an empty instant dungeon and shield his mother. He had the perfect spell to use. **Endless Magic Arrows** would summon magic arrows to seek and destroy his enemies. Given that the skill lasted until either he stopped it or ran out of MP, and that he had dumped all of his stat points into intelligence before he left his garage, he could easily clear the field with it. There was no kill like overkill, though, so he planned on using other skills to speed things up. The main flaw that he could see was Arcee's presence. Even if she wasn't pulled into the illusion barrier with him, she would still realize that something was off when he disappeared. It looked like all of his secrets were going to come out tonight.

Once they neared the temporary MECH base, Jack decided that the least he could do for his partner was warn her, "Hey, Arcee, whatever you see tonight, don't freak out."

"What? Do you know something?"

"I have no idea what MECH's going to do, but what I'm planning may be—" he paused, searching for the right word—"alarming."

Arcee started to question him again, but they had arrived and there was no more time to talk.

Jack's plan made contact with the enemy and fell apart immediately. They didn't have his mother with them. Initially, he resolved to be discreet until he found her, but then Arachnid showed up and he threw caution to the wind.

" **Blackout, ID Create, Summon Lowest Elemental, Summon Lowest Elemental, Summon Lowest Elemental, Summon Lowest Elemental, Summon Lowest Elemental,** " Jack jammed MECH's communications before pulling the entire complex and its inhabitants into an empty illusion barrier and summoning minions. "Gnome, guard Arcee. Salamander, destroy Arachnid. Sylph, find Mom. Undine, kill the soldiers."

The earth elemental nodded and started erecting walls around Jack's partner. The fire spirit raced off after the Decepticon, while the air entity began to search and their watery counterpart lunged at he nearest MECH operatives.

" **Flight** ," Jack ascended and noted the locations of as many soldiers as he could see. Some of them shot at him, but with **Bronze Skin** active, the bullets that connected with him merely stung. " **Endless Magic Arrows**."

He'd gotten everyone he could see, including their leader. He'd leave the rest to Undine.

An orange light caught his eye at the same time that Sylph came racing to his side, "I found her!"

Jack hurriedly flew after Sylph to find his mother beginning to carefully burn through Arachnid's webbing. He had the air elemental help cut her loose, and between him and the spirit, they had her down on the ground in no time, "Jack, what is all this?"

"Yes, Jack, I'd like to know that too," Arachnid emerged from the shadows, scorched but intact.

"Where's Sal?" None of the elementals would give up on a mission.

"Your firefly? Smothered. Now, about those answers..." She started to approach.

"Keep wondering. **Mana Drill!** " Several spiraling spikes of spiritual energy formed and flew towards Arachnid, targeting her legs and joints. When the Decepticon stumbled, Jack grabbed his mom's hand and pulled her away. " **Summon Lowest Elemental**. Sal, Sylph, Delay her for as long as you can. Mom, I need you to exit the illusion barrier and run until your cell phone works again—"

"Jack, I won't—"

Jack started to cut her off, but they were both interrupted by a loud crash. Cautiously, they backtracked.

Arcee had regained consciousness and freed herself from Arachnid's webbing. She, along with three of Jack's summoned elementals were wearing Arachnid down. While June and Jack watched, Arachnid lurched backwards to avoid a blast from Arcee and stumbled over a low wall Gnome brought up. Instantly, the earth rose to pin her down and Salamander sent a Sylph-enhanced blast of fire at the Decepticon's face. Arcee was more direct, she stalked over and blasted her old enemy right in the spark.

Jack stepped forward, shaking off his mother when she tried to pull him back, "Nice shot, partner."

"Couldn't have done it without their assistance," Arcee motioned to the three spirits then considered Jack. "Whatever they are, they aren't that alarming."

"Heh, I guess not. You three, go help Undine."

"Wait, what's going on? Who is this? Who were those soldiers? Who was that?" June gestured to Arachnid's husk. "You called this person, 'partner'? How long have you known each other?"

Jack pulled up the map of his barrier and answered while he watched the markers that represented his enemies disappear as his summons swept through the area, "In order, MECH used you to get to me to get to her, Arcee, MECH, Arachnid, and ever since I brought the motorcycle home. Actually, Arcee is the motorcycle, so you can stop worrying about me getting into a crash."

While Jack had been talking, his elementals finished off the rest of MECH and returned. Jack thanked and dismissed them, then continued, "Look, I know that you have a lot of questions—that you both have a lot of questions, but could they wait until we're at the base?"

"Wait, Jack—" June stepped forward— "What about those MECH people?"

"If there are any around, they were outside my range when I opened the illusion barrier. I don't think we'll have any trouble, but stay close to me just in case. I'll throw up a shield as soon as I destroy this barrier."

"What about the ones that are inside?"

Jack glanced at Arcee then looked away, "They're not a problem anymore."

* * *

"You killed them?" Ratchet asked incredulously.

Jack leaned back into the sofa and his mother put a comforting hand on his shoulder from her place beside him. They had already answered most of her questions and were going over the events of that night. At Jack's request, the Autobots had put off contacting Agent Fowler for now. He did not want to have this conversation with a government agent present. "I had to. They went after my mom. They were trying to get to Arcee. They would have killed me and Miko on the train. They almost irradiated at least five states when they—"

"Hey, relax; we get that they deserved it. It's just... how?" Bulkhead questioned with a vague gesture in Jack's general direction.

Here it was, the question Jack had been anticipating. He prepared to give them the condensed version of the speech his mother had given him when he first gained powers. Before he could say anything, though, June summoned a ball of fire to her hand.

"Short version: people with supernatural powers exist, Jack and I are two of those people, and he used his abilities to make sure that the people who threatened us could never do so again."

"What." Ratchet's tone was flat, but he leaned forward, examining the nurse.

"Like she said, we both have powers. Mine are a bit more varied than Mom's, but, yeah..."

"What I want to know," Arcee interjected, "is if you have powers, why haven't you used them before tonight, if not against the Decepticons, then against the MECH operatives on the train?"

"Well, the planet doesn't really want—"

"The planet?" Ratchet was looking skeptical again.

"Gaia, god, whatever force is behind people getting powers—"

"And there definitely is some force behind it." June cut in.

"—yeah, it doesn't like being exposed. If someone uses their powers too obviously and normal people take notice, then they die soon after. The only reason I risked using my abilities tonight was because I wasn't planning to leave witnesses, present company excluded."

That, and the fact that with his mom and later Arcee's lives on the line, Jack was totally prepared to accept Gaia's retaliation as the price for their safety.

"He had some leeway, since in taking me they attacked first. I know of at least one similar case," she added at Jack's questioning look. "An... old associate of mine killed an attacker and suffered no consequences for it."

"So Jack's safe, then?" Arcee wanted to know.

Jack shrugged, "Probably? There aren't really any written, concrete rules, just what's been observed over the centuries and been passed down by word-of-mouth. If I survive the next week, then I'm probably good. Anyway, back to the planet not wanting too many people to know about powers and mystical stuff; I need to ask you all not to tell Miko, Raf, or Fowler what happened tonight. Just tell them that Arcee managed to call for backup and you got us out, or something."

" _Why?_ " Bumblebee asked.

"There's a society of people who can use abilities. That society is called the Abyss, and it's pretty much lawless. If people there found out about me and mom, and they thought that Raf and Miko already knew about the powers and stuff, then they might use those two to get to us. People in the Abyss really don't like risking going after people outside of the Abyss, so as long as we don't drag them in, they should be alright. Same goes for Fowler."

"I understand concealing the truth from Miko and Rafael, but lying to Agent Fowler is another matter," Optimus spoke.

"Alright, well, how about this..."

* * *

"What do you mean, '...and that's it?' How did you get away from MECH? Where did this happen? Why didn't you call me immediately?"

"I mean that that's all I can tell you. We got away because none of them followed us. Here are the coordinates MECH gave us, and we didn't call you because it by the time everything was over, it was very late, and we wanted to let you rest. Look, Agent, Mom and I have been up all night, if you still have questions we'll answer them later."

"What? No! I bet you told the Autobots the full story, I'll get it out of one of them."

"Good luck, they've already promised not to tell you anything unless it's a matter of life-or-death. More seriously, though..." Jack hesitated, but he had already decided to tell Agent Fowler this much, "The Autobots aren't the only major secret I'm in on. What happened with MECH involved that other secret. I can practically guarantee that the government is aware of the other thing. You don't need to get involved."

"I've been on the other side of this conversation often enough to know when someone is trying to keep something from me 'for my own good.' I have to ask, is being ignorant going to protect me the same way it protected your mother?"

Jack flinched back, and June stepped forward, snarling, "Yes, actually, it will. There are serious consequences for involving outsiders that no one in that community would be willing to risk. Now if you don't mind, even if you do, actually, I'm taking my son and going home."

She took Jack by the arm and stormed over to the ground bridge. Arcee scrambled to open it to an area near Jasper and transform to offer the two a ride home.

"Well," Fowler said to the onlooking Autobots, "that could have gone better."

* * *

After they had both slept, June sat Jack down at the kitchen table and started grilling him on everything he could do. She was both impressed and dismayed at the list. "The people I used to run with would kill to get your hands on you."

June called her work and Jack's school to make excuses, and they spent the day in one of Jack's training dungeons, beating up ogres while Jack gave a practical demonstration of his skills. During this time Jack discovered that he could form parties and share things like experience. Curious to see if anything else would be shared with party members, he brought out a duplicate of a skill book he'd obtained from a zombie dungeon. His mother was surprised to see a pop-up asking her if she would like to learn **Life Drain**. With that revelation, they rushed to a computer to order skill books from Abyss Auction.

* * *

Life went on, the Autobots continued to go on missions. June was too busy training in her own illusion barriers in her spare time to spend much time at the Autobot base. She compensated by calling and texting Jack every spare moment, though. At first, Miko and Raf teased Jack about how much his mom was checking up on him, then Jack gave them the abridged and slightly altered story of their adventures with MECH. Arcee also wondered about the frequency of June's communications.

"I know that I may not have made a great first impression as your guardian, what with her getting kidnapped by MECH, and you doing most of the fighting, but she does know that I'll protect you from Decepticons, right?" They were in the speaking quietly in a corner of the base while Miko and Raf played a video game together.

"It's not Decepticons she's worried about, not really." Jack brought up Abyss Auction on his phone. "It's the Abyss."

"What is this?" Arcee leaned over to get a better look.

"It's a site for people in the Abyss to buy and sell things. You can find anything you could possibly want here—spells, armor, information... people." He tapped the slave tab.

"What?" Arcee said loudly, she glanced up, making sure that the other two humans were still engrossed in their game before continuing in a softer tone, "What? I thought that was illegal."

"It is illegal, but people in the Abyss don't care about laws." Jack touched one of the slave's profiles morbidly curious. "It's 'might makes right' in there."

"What does that mean, that this person could be used for Mana or components?"

"It means that they could be used as a source of mana, or magic power, basically, or they could be cut up and used for parts. I don't know what exactly they'd be used for, maybe spell components or something."

"Doesn't this bother you?"

"Of course it does, but I can't help any of these people. I don't know where any of them are; they could be halfway across the world for all I know. Even if I did know, I might not be strong enough to beat whoever is holding them prisoner or undo whatever spells are keeping them enslaved. Honestly, even if I became the strongest person in the Abyss, I still don't think I'd be able to stop it." Jack stopped, breathed out, and continued, "Anyway, my original point was that if mom and I don't keep our heads down, that could happen to us. We're both wearing jewelry that should hide us, but the stronger we get, the greater chance there is that we're found."

"Jack," Arcee waited until he was looking at her to speak, "We would never let that happen."

Jack smiled at her but didn't reply.

* * *

Later that week, Jack, Miko, Arcee, and Bulkhead got trapped in a cave-in. Jack dusted himself off and looked around. He seemed to be alone and he opened his minimap to see where everyone was. There were two icons together, and three more markers that were on their own. One of those lone icons was pretty close to where he was and he debated calling up Gnome to investigate it. It might be Arcee. On the other hand, there was a two-in-three chance of it being a Decepticon. He did not want any of them to be aware of the Abyss. In the end, he decided to look for Bulkhead and Miko first, since he assumed that they were together.

He summoned Gnome and instructed her to keep the go ahead and check on the two presences and not be seen while he continued on foot. She returned shortly and confirmed that the pair were Bulkhead and Miko. With the earth elemental creating a tunnel, they were soon approaching the area where Jack's friends were. Jack brought a pouch of sleeping powder—after the MECH incident, his mom insisted that he have nonlethal takedown options—out of his inventory and gave it to Gnome with orders to drop it on Miko from above. Soon Bulkhead's panicked shouts could be heard. Jack winced and had his summon clear a way inside.

"She's fine, Bulkhead. Don't worry. Sorry, but I needed her to not be awake when I did this," He gestured to Gnome and the hole he had come through.

Bulkhead's optics narrowed, but he didn't comment on what happened to Miko, "Jack, think you could do anything about this?" He jerked his head up at the section of the ceiling he was holding up.

"Gnome?"

It took a few minutes, but soon the cavern was reinforced. Bulkhead carefully stepped out from under the crushing weight and picked up Miko, "What now? Can you find Arcee?"

"No, we got separated when we fe—wait, actually, maybe I can. I'm not sure if it'll work with Cybertronians, but I can try. **Create Party. Name: Agree to Escape. Invite: Bulkhead.** Did that work?" Jack glanced up at the Wrecker.

Bulkhead's optics shuttered, and he tilted his head, "Am I supposed to be seeing a little blue box?"

"Yes, good, it works. **Invite: Arcee.** "

Jack absently closed the notification that Bulkhead had joined his party and waited for Arcee to do the same. While he did so, movement on the still open minimap caught his eye. "Bulkhead, someone's coming."

"Arcee or Decepticon?"

"No way of telling until Arcee accepts my inv—wait, she just did; that's not her."

"Scrap," Bulkhead ground out. "Do you know who's in here?"

"Yeah, Megatron and Starscream. I don't know who it is, though."

" _Scrap_."

"Yeah, Gnome, can you widen the tunnel we came through so that Bulkhead can use it?"

"Not quickly enough to get out before the enemy arrives."

"What if Bulkhead transformed and you moved the rock to reinforce the area between us and whoever?"

"Maybe, I'll do my best!"

"Okay, Bulkhead, go ahead and transform. Do you need me to hold Miko while you...?"

"No," The green Autobot transformed around his charge.

"Okay, I'll try to contact Arcee."

"Coms don't work in here, somethings messing them up."

"I'm gonna try something else. **Party Chat.** Arcee, can you hear me?"

 _Jack?_

"I hear her too."

"Where are you?" He noticed that while two of the icons on his minimap were mobile, one hadn't moved since he opened it. "Are you stuck someplace? Can you move?"

 _I'm fine, couldn't tell you where I am, though. Was that Bulkhead? Are you with him?_

"Yeah, I'm with him and Miko. We'll come to you. Gnome, dig—" He looked at the now blue markers indicating team members and tried to figure out which direction he needed to go to reach the further one— "That way."

Jack started to walk behind the elemental, but Bulkhead came up beside him and opened his passenger door, "Come on, you might as well save your energy."

Jack climbed in, "Thanks."

 _So, Jack, we haven't pressed because you always seem so uncomfortable when it comes up, but I kind of really need to know now, just what is is that you can do?_

"Lots of things, but my relevant skills right now are earth manipulation, general awareness of everyone's position, and communication. I'll give you the full version later."

"Is there something wrong with what you can do?" Bulkhead asked.

"Not really, it's more embarrassing than anything else."

 _Jack, I'm hearing something. Is that you?_

"Yeah, we're almost to you."

Even as he spoke, Gnome's tunnel opened up into a larger cavern. Jack could see Arcee's optics glowing in the darkness. He waved at her.

"Now that we're all together, let's get out of here. Gnome, take us to the surface!"

"Yes!"

The elemental ran ahead and starting carving out an upwards sloping path. Arcee transformed and drove alongside Bulkhead. Jack leaned back into the seat and closed his eyes. It had been an exhausting day, and with a metal concert and another long conversation with the Autobots in store, it didn't seem like he'd be getting a break anytime soon. He cracked his eyes open to see Miko still asleep in the back and Arcee driving by Bulkhead's side. He felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Life was a lot more chaotic than it had been two years or even two months ago, but he wouldn't trade it, or all the friends he'd made, for anything.

* * *

 **Notes:** I love this trope (whether it's a Gamer fusion or not) and wanted to try my hand at it. Also, I totally skipped over the polarity gauntlet because while part of me doesn't want to give the Decepticons anything, logic says that without Arachnid harassing Breakdown, the Autobots never would have gotten it. They probably won't get the immobilizer either, since Arachnid instigated that expedition. I did my best to explain all of The Gamer elements, but I may have overlooked something. If there was anything you didn't get, tell me and I'll go back and edit the chapter to make things clearer. Thank you for reading!


	4. Minifills

**Notes** : In which this collection completely fails to live up to its name. I found a mini scenario generator and plugged in Jack and Predaking. A couple of the results caught my eye, so I'm writing short fills for the prompts. Unless the prompt states otherwise, all of these take place in an AU where Predaking also remained on earth (and Optimus lives, of course). (Fair warning, like half of this was written at three AM, so if things seem off, that's probably why.)

* * *

 **Prompt 1**. Jack and Predaking taking care of a bunch of orphan puppies and/or kittens.

Predaking left his room when he heard an argument in the base's main chamber. Jack and Ratchet were in disagreement with each other over a cardboard box that Jack had clutched to his chest. Neither noticed Predaking approaching.

"Ratchet, it's raining. It's a _flash flood_. If I left them, they might have died!"

"So take them to your house."

"The base was closer. Look, it's just until I clear them with Mom, and the storm dies down."

"Fine, but you're responsible for keeping them contained and cleaning up after them. And they'd better be gone by the end of the day."

"Alright, al—Predaking?"

Predaking was _fascinated_. He bent over and hooked one claw over the edge of the box, carefully tilting it so he could see the furry mass of mewing bodies within. One creature (a kitten, the internet told him) batted at the claw. Predaking smiled widely at it. "You can be Twinstrike, you can be Lazerback, and _you_ —" he focused on a particularly rowdy feline— "can be Vertebreak. And you—"

"The black and white one is Mistoffelees," Jack cut in.

"Very well... Backlash," He dubbed the final kitten.

Jack set the box down on the floor between them and turned to his motorcycle to retrieve a shopping bag filled cans and fluffy things, "Do you wanna help me feed them?"

"Yes."

Ratchet could only look between the two in horror.

* * *

 **Prompt 2**. Predaking is a demon summoned by wizard Jack to do their bidding./Predaking is Jack's hired bodyguard.

There were risks to summoning demons, of course, but Vince had managed it, so how hard could it really be? And Jack needed to do this, Vince's demon kept freaking him out, watching him and threatening him whenever Vince's attention was elsewhere. The summoning ritual protected the summoner from harm, not random acquaintances. Who knew what task Vince had set for her or how long she'd be around, how many shots at him she'd get?

Jack stood back and made sure everything was in place. The circle was perfect, the candles were in the right spots, and the containment seal had been triple checked. All that was needed now was the blood of the summoner.

There was significantly less fanfare than Jack had been expecting. No flashes of light, no smell of sulfur, no plume of smoke, just a figure appearing in the circle between one moment and the next. The demon was obviously draconian, covered in scales with wicked looking claws tipping each finger. He had regal features and the horns on his head looked vaguely like a crown. Something about this was nagging him, but before he could put his finger on it, the demon looked around and spoke.

"You didn't tailor this to any particular demon."

There were two general methods of summoning. One was to call on a specific demon, but that could fail if the spirit in question was already contracted. The other way was to focus on what you needed and, theoretically, whoever was most suited to the task would appear. The downside to this was that you never knew who would appear. While some demons didn't mind being summoned, others loathed being called to the mortal realm, and would hold grudges against the person responsible.

Jack swallowed his uneasiness and replied. "No, the only demons I know who can handle this are already in this realm."

This seemed to intrigue the demon, "Oh, and what are you up to that requires _my_ aid?"

Jack was starting to have regrets, _Whoever this is, he's important. He probably expects to be recognized, and he almost definitely expects some sort of grand task. He might think I'm trivializing him when he finds out what I want._ Out loud, he said, "There's this demon called Arachnid. One of my classmates summoned her for reasons unknown but she's fixated on me. Maybe for something an ancestor did? I'm not sure. Anyway, I need a bodyguard for as long as she's around."

The demon considered his words for a long moment, and Jack was getting ready to apologize and offer to send him back—although Jack had a sinking suspicion that if this person didn't want to be here, then none of Jack's safeguards would hold him—when the spirit shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Well, it has been some time since I was last in this plane, perhaps the bloodline I favored has died out." He seemed to evaluate Jack before continuing, "Perhaps I should find a new one. I will form a contract with you."

Jack let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "Thank you, what should I call you?"

The demon smiled back, and despite the flash of sharp teeth, it made him seem much more approachable, "I go by Predaking in this realm."

"Oh," How on earth had Jack managed to summon one of the Lords of Hell?

"You _have_ heard of me then."

"I think everyone's heard of you. It's just that no one knows what you look like."

"Well, now you know. Now, on to business..."

They spent the better part of an hour hashing out the details. Jack managed to specify that there would be no assaulting or even threatening random people, even if their ancestors had mortally offended the lord or they were working with an enemy of his. He wasn't going to let Predaking get away with the stuff Arachnid had pulled on him. In return for the restrictions on his behavior, the Lord of the Predacons insisted that the contract would not be considered over until Arachnid was gone _and_ he found a replacement bloodline, which basically meant that he wouldn't leave until he wanted to. Once the last few details were hammered out, Predaking stepped up to the edge of the seal.

Jack stared at him blankly before he flushed. _Oh, right, have to seal the deal._

Quickly, before he could lose his nerve, Jack moved in front of Predaking and pressed a kiss to the demon's lips. To his irritation, he had to stand on his toes to do it. He'd meant for it to be a quick peck, but Predaking had other ideas. As soon as contact was made, the demon seized Jack and pulled him into the circle. He took advantage of the human's gasp of surprise to gain access to Jack's mouth, and didn't pull back until the Jack was breathing harshly through his nose.

"What?"

Predaking smirked down at his summoner and walked past him to explore the house without saying a word, leaving Jack staring after him.

Jack ran a hand through his hair, he'd been too bold, gotten too close. Predaking could have killed him, and Jack was damn lucky (in more ways than one) that the demon had chosen to deepen the kiss instead.. And that smirk! Jack did not like smirks, did not, as a rule, like people who smirked. So why was Predaking suddenly twice at attractive as he was two minutes ago? Jack moved his hand to touch his lips. He was in so much trouble.

* * *

 **Prompt 3.** Jack as a vampire feeding on Predaking.

It took longer than Predaking would have liked to confront the creature. The Autobots were convinced that it was harmless, that it was an ally. They were still wary of Predaking. The medic refused to leave him alone with any of the "earthlings". Finally, it came by when the medic was resting.

"The medic is not available," he told it, suddenly unprepared for confrontation.

"I know, I'm here to see you. You've been trying to get me alone, makes a guy wonder about your intentions."

Predaking stared down at the being known as Jack Darby for several seconds before blurting out, "How do they not know what you are? How have your appetites not given you away?"

"What I am?"

"Do not play dumb, sparkeater."

"I prefer the term dynaphage. It's more correct."

"I do not care what you call yourself. What are your intentions?"

"I intend to go on living my life, I do not intend to kill any of the Autobots, Decepticon prisoners, or you. As for your first two questions, it has been a very long time since our two races have been on the same planet, since the Great Cataclysm, I believe. As for the second, the name I gave you gives it away. I eat _energy_. The spark may be the purest, most delicious source, but there are other ways to sustain myself."

"Have you fed on any of them?"

"Only a little... Don't look at me like that; I _am_ capable of self-control. I'll show you."

"Do not come near me."

"No, look, just run a self diagnostic and watch your energy levels."

"I will kill you if you come into contact with me for more than ten seconds."

"I'll be done in five... How's that?"

Predaking stared at the readout. If he hadn't been watching, he wouldn't have even noticed his energy levels falling, "I didn't feel anything."

"Exactly, I can do subtle. ...So, now what?"

"What?"

"Are you going to run to Ratchet and Optimus with this information?"

"No, but I'll still be watching you."

"Closely, I hope."

"What?"

"Ah, nothing..."

* * *

 **Prompt 4.** Predaking knits an ugly sweater and forces Jack to wear it.

"Ratchet, hide me!"

"Predaking's finished with his gift, then?"

"You knew. You knew, and you didn't warn me. Traitor."

"This is your own fault, you know."

"Don't remind me. Besides, you're partly to blame too, you know. None of this would have started if you hadn't told him to get a hobby."

"I'm not the one who suggested knitting, I'm not the one who helped him fabricate the needles, and I'm certainly not the one who spent almost a hundred dollars on yarn for him."

"Maybe I should have paid more attention to the colors I was getting."

"Maybe you should—oh, hello Predaking."

"Oh, hi..."

"There you are. Try on the sweater, so I know if it fits."

"Sure... You know, I was just telling Ratchet about the sweater. He's really jealous, you should make him a hat."

"What? Why would I need a hat?"

"Holiday spirit?"

"It would be good practice for me. I was planning to make Jack a hat to match his sweater."

"What? That sounds... fantastic..."

"Well, in that case, I would love a hat. Do you have enough red yarn left?"

"Ratchet!"

"You started this, Jack. Now come try on your sweater."

* * *

 **Notes:** Trying to use more dialogue since I have a bad habit of avoiding it, making my characters act the same, or just wildly out of character. It's... a work in progress. Honorable mentions go to:

Predaking suspects Jack is a werewolf. Jack is actually hiding a more mundane secret

Jack with a hangover, but Predaking is feeling fine

Jack, a knight in shining armor, must rescue the distressed Predaking

Predaking and Jack are Pokemon trainers that cross paths and end up traveling together.

Loved the premises, couldn't figure out where to go with them. For the last, I even started to figure out what teams they'd have—would Predaking have dragons or fossils? Dragons, Shockwave would have the fossils—but couldn't figure out what to do with them. Also, I tried for a bodyswap prompt, I really did, but the characters refused to do anything interesting. Speaking of prompts, feel free to throw some my way. I can't promise that I'll get to them all, but I could always use the inspiration. Thank you for reading!


End file.
